Fort Pitt Museum, Bushy Run close due to state budget crisis

Share with others:

The state budget gridlock in Harrisburg will claim yet another a victim this evening when the Fort Pitt Museum will close indefinitely due to a lack of funding for employees.

When the museum closes today, it will not open again until a state budget is settled, said officials at the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, which administers the museum dedicated to the role that Fort Pitt played during the French and Indian War.

Also closing will be the Bushy Run Battlefield in Westmoreland County, the Joseph Priestley House in Northumberland County and the Brandywine Battlefield in Chester County due to a lack of state funding, said Kirk Wilson a PHMC spokesman.

The commission plans to furlough 23 employees including all six of them at Fort Pitt Musuem.

Management of the Fort Pitt facility is scheduled to be transferred to the Senator John Heinz Regional History Center, but the agreement can't be finalized until the budget is adopted, officials said.